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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Stick with It

I seem to have trouble sticking with things, like diets, healthy eating, and/or exercise -- basically things I know I should do, but don't enjoy doing. I mean if you told me I had to eat at least 10 pieces of chocolate every day or a bag of popcorn, I don't think it'd be a problem. I'd have it in the cupboard and would do it. And if I didn't get to it, I wouldn't feel guilty. But tell me I need to eat vegetables or have three good healthy meals and I struggle. Not that I don't like vegetables or good healthy meals, but they seem like such work.

Anyway, back to the sticking with things. I can usually last about three days, sometimes a whole week, but more than that is really tough for me. It's like the 17-day diet. You can do anything for 17 days, right? Not me. Or the notion that it takes 21 days to create or break a habit. Guess who has trouble with that? If I can't get past a week, how in the world can I make it/do it for three weeks?

However, I can make it for the next fifteen minutes. I can do just about anything for 15 minutes -- like the 15 minute challenge. And often those 15 minutes turn into an hour. I just need to figure out how to challenge myself, or perhaps remind myself, that I just need to do it for 15 minutes, and then 15 minutes more, and 15 minutes more, and so on and so on and then that 15 minutes can eventually become 17 days or 21 days or a lifetime habit. Sounds easy, doesn't it? HA.

The problem is remembering the 15 minutes. and being intentional. I need a string tied around my finger. I need reminders everywhere. I found the picture below when I was googling the word "goals"; it looks good.

I feel like if my goals were on my mind, I might be able to stick with them. I'd love any tips anyone has on how to remember what my goals are, and, for that matter, tips of how I can remember why they are my goals (i.e. how important they are), and how to attain or achieve them. When I see a box of doughnuts, I don't want to think about NOT eating a doughnut. I just want to eat it and all the other ones too. Help.

3 comments:

The "relevant" in the picture may be what you need to concentrate on. If you don't truly feel like you need to abstain from eating those donuts, you won't. The more relevant the goals are to you, the better you will remember them. My two cents worth anyway.

I have exactly the same problems. I can't stick to anything either. I suppose it doesn't help when our lives are so full and our brains are filled with a million different things, it makes it very difficult to be focused on any one thing. Every time I have a specific task to do, I'll be half way through it and get diverted to something else, it's frustrating.